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The Hacker School Experience
- yial 14y agoWhere you place the most attractive people in the front row for each photo. ;) But, in all seriousness, I think it is a fantastic idea to make women feel more welcome in that field, as too many girls I know who are IST majors, or something similar, frequently talk about how they really feel that it's more of a "guys" area.
- Adrock 14y agoDon't say ridiculously sexist and superficial crap and put an emoticon next to it like that makes it ok. It's not ok.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- brain5ide 14y agoDon't attach the sexist label to things so easily. That devalues it in the mind of people that care not mindlessly.
- kabuks 14y agoThese women just spent 3 months of technical training, and the comment started by remarking on their attractiveness and goes on to call them girls. Not sure if they attached it 'easily', but that comment was squarely sexist in my book. Even if it was well intentioned.
- walshemj 14y agoI agree did you see the sewing needle in the log FFS along with craft word in the seal on the wall. "don't worry ladies its just craft like sewing a quilt" they will be going on about how they have some "negro boys" in the next group.
- walshemj 14y agoObviously hit a nerve there
- yial 14y agoNo, I said women in the field. Then I commented that /girls/ that I know. (people who are 17, 18, years old, which, if you're still living off your parents etc, you're still a boy or a girl) I feel that even at my age, I am still a "girl" rather then a "women" personally.
- Adrock 14y agoAgainst all instincts, I'll entertain your suggestion. Why should that not be labeled as sexist?
- yial 14y agoI was saying that to due to the fact that it's true for each and every photo, even the guys I find attractive are in the front rows. I felt that the photos were slightly weird because of that. Additionally, I think many things about the logo are sexist, the needle and stitch thing is more sexist then any comment I made.
- Omni5cience 14y agoThe Hacker School logo is a computer [1]. The logo you're seeing with a needle is one from Etsy [2], who by the way, were the driving force behind (and are the primary benefactors of) Hacker School's grants for women. [1] https://www.hackerschool.com/assets/logo_140.png https://www.hackerschool.com/assets/logo_140.png [2] http://kongscreenprinting.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Etsy-Code-as-Craft.jpg http://kongscreenprinting.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Ets...
- jamii 14y agoWhere we place the shortest people in the front row for each photo. You know, like every other group photo ever...
- thechips 14y agoAs someone in the back I resent the comment above
- jfarmer 14y agoYou might not realize it, but your first sentence is an example of what makes "too many girls ... feel that it [the technology field] is more of a 'guys' area." When people say "sexism," that's a big part of what they mean. It's not necessarily treating women as if they're inferior to men, but rather creating an environment -- sometimes knowingly, usually not -- where women don't feel comfortable or welcome because they are women. Pinching butts, whistling, making sexual advances, hiring unqualified men over qualified women, etc. are all ham-handed ways of creating that environment. But sexism is also embedded in things like our instinct to comment first on a woman's appearance, call them "girls" instead of "women," and constantly sexualize them in small and seemingly insignificant ways.
- nicholasjbs 14y agoHacker School founder here. I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has about Hacker School or applying.
- doctorpangloss 14y agoWhat is the next step? How do you translate what Hacker School does into something State University can do? Some State Universities can explicitly accept and reject candidates on the basis of gender. Some State Universities can let students pick their own projects and grade on effort. But others have admissions criteria determined by law, and others must have final exams that are the same for each student. In other words, how can Hacker School adapt higher-ed pedagogy to better accomodate women engineers?
- nicholasjbs 14y agoSorry, I don't think I understand your question. Could you please rephrase it?
- charlieflowers 14y agoNicholas, What do you think a family of 3 would need to pay for rent during Hacker School? (Assume the goal is to live as cheaply as possible, but to be in a safe area).
- nicholasjbs 14y agoIt depends on what your family of three would need (i.e., if you're a couple with a young baby, one room would probably suffice; if you're a parent with two teenagers, you might need two or three bedrooms). When I last polled our students, they were spending $800-1,200/month individually. Some people have been able to go below that ($600 is the cheapest I've heard) and some have opted to spend more. Assuming you need a two bedroom place, my guess is you could get a reasonable one that's transit accessible and in safe part of Brooklyn or Queens for 1.5-2x the above. For example, here's a Craigslist post for a 2-bedroom apartment for $1200 (http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3504867065.html http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3504867065.html) and another for $1600 (http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3509197277.html http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/sub/3509197277.html) I hope this helps!
- RyanZAG 14y agohttps://www.hackerschool.com/blog/12-what-we-mean-by-hacker https://www.hackerschool.com/blog/12-what-we-mean-by-hacker "Hacker School made it very clear what their definition of “hacker” is (curious go-getters) and what it is not (pompous know-it-alls)." "Someone who enjoys sharing what she learns with others. " "Someone who is friendly and communicates well." Bandwagon much? Don't go redefining 'hacker' just so you can jump your school on the 'hacking is hot' phenomenon. From a Google definition: "An enthusiastic and skillful computer programmer or user.", and yes, skillful is a far more important part of it than "friendly and communicates well". That said (from a pompous know-it-all, no less!), the school itself seems pretty awesome and big kudos to them! Just the kind of thing the world needs more of.
- SethMurphy 14y agoEveryone goes in enthusiastic and comes out more skilled. The definition has not been altered. Sure, in three months you can't learn it all, but you learn to keep learning. You go to become a hacker, not because you are one. I think that was the point trying to be made. DISCLAIMER: I am on the Hacker School bandwagon as a participant myself ;)
- nicholasjbs 14y agoI think our definition fits pretty well with ESR's and the definition of "hacker" from the Jargon file[1]: 1. A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary. 2. One who programs enthusiastically (even obsessively) or who enjoys programming rather than just theorizing about programming. (Though as we point out, we don't think being obsessive is necessary.) Also, in ESR's "How to be a hacker"[2] he includes both learning to write and communicate well and sharing what you learn and build with others as requirements for being a hacker. [1] http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/H/hacker.html [2] http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html#skills4 http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html#skills4 EDIT: To anyone reading the parent comment without clicking through to the blog post it's excerpting, please note the parent comment ignores the first two criteria we list: Someone who is intellectually curious. Hackers enjoy tinkering and understanding how things work. They revel in going deeper into things, and love asking questions: How can I make my code easier to debug? What is making my program slow? How does this work? Someone who enjoys programming. We spend most of our time at Hacker School programming, there aren't grades or tests to make you study, and you don't get a degree or certificate for doing Hacker School, so it's important that you like coding.
- charlieflowers 14y agoWho wouldn't love 3 months of hardcore programming and collaboration with other smart, fired up people?
- dustineichler 14y agoYou'd think, but it's not for everyone.
- rdl 14y agoI wonder what the value is of having it in NYC (or SFBA) vs. somewhere else, ideally cheap and with minimal distractions, like a university campus over the summer. Also wonder if there's a good argument for doing a non-US hacker school to solve visa issues -- is there anything going on like this in China now? India?
- lnanek2 14y agoThere are a ton of interesting tech things going on in NYC. General Assembly runs events and classes, AlleyNYC similar, WeWork Labs has cheap office space for startups, New Work Labs has a free night, NY Gaming Meetup, multiple competing Java Meetups with technical presentations; group coding; networking, NY Tech meetup, User Experience Meetup, iPhone meetup with tons of people advertising gigs and looking, ad startups offering above even NYC rates to get people into a distasteful subject - and those are just the things I've encountered personally. Honestly, if someone going to school meets a more established opportunity to work at a real startup or with a real company with a production product, then I think that's a good distraction anyway, since they'll move on to the real deal, instead of just working on educational open source projects, and really start their career.
- alecco 14y agoThe word hacker is so abused for marketing purposes it now means entry level programmer of whatever trendy fad of the times. (e.g. node.js hacker, rails ninja, mongodb god) * Originally (70s-80s) hackers were programmers/technicians who could modify programs or machines to perform tasks beyond their original intended use (for good or bad). * Afterwards (90s), journalists hyped the word to mean security hackers, people expert on security issues of software (itself a subset of original hackers). * And then further journalist confusion, changing it to refer to people cracking into systems * In the last few years it became a glorified buzzword losing any useful meaning. A lot of insecure people who need cool names use it to describe themselves. There's no substance and no way to verify their claims. This is like ghetto cars with neon lights and flaps.
- doktrin 14y agoYou don't provide any evidence to support your claim. >> "hackers were programmers/technicians who could modify programs or machines to perform tasks beyond their original intended use (for good or bad)" That is incredibly vague. In fact, by that standard, I was a "hacker" in 8th grade. Is there some unspoken and arbitrary measure of skill in the "original" definition you are referring to? If not, then there's absolutely nothing wrong with any entry level programmer referring to themselves as a hacker. >> A lot of insecure people who need cool names use it to describe themselves. There's no substance and no way to verify their claims. This is like ghetto cars with neon lights and flaps. That analogy isn't helpful. How does the so-called dilution of the "hacker" term relate to "ghetto" cars with neon lights?
- alecco 14y agoEvidence? Are you joking? 2600, Phrack, BBS archives. Hell, there's even a half-decent page in Wikipedia. Not some random 90s nobody like ESR disenfranchised by the same people who made him famous (the slashdot crowd of the 90s).
- alecco 14y agoBut I bet the page will be corrected by this fad's promoters.
- xiaoma 14y agoAs a man who has been hustling flat out to get into a program such as this for the past several months and is currently dead broke living in an 8 square meter apartment in SF, it's very difficult to read this kind of article and not wonder. I'm passing the technical filters (which admittedly should be weak for a school), but not quite making it in. I not only went out of my way to visit multiple schools and talk to former graduates, but I even sold a bank on the idea of giving me a (small) loan to cover living expenses. With such high applicant to acceptance ratios, I can't take things too personally, but it's hard not to feel discouraged. Am I getting passed over largely because people just don't value investing in a 30 something man? Would a female in my shoes have gotten in long ago? I know having more money would help, but it's a bit of a reinforcing cycle since the social proof and skills gained at such a program help greatly in making money. As my last submission to HN should make it clear, I love this kind of teaching system. I strongly believe that people learn way faster with guidance and peers working towards the same goal than they do working alone. What can I do to up my chances of acceptance into a similar school/bootcamp/dojo/academy?
- tgebru 14y agoHave you actually applied to Hacker School?
- xiaoma 14y agoYes. I did the application form on their website several months ago. I never heard any response. Due to the distance and the fact that their need-based assistance is available only to women, I left it at that. I can't chase every opportunity all-out, so I've focused on the places in SF where I thought I had the best shot. And while I haven't gotten in, the teachers have been extremely kind and I do feel like I have at least gotten close.
- thomasballinger 14y agoWould you send a note to admissions@hackerschool.com with the email you used on that application so we can sort that out? We certainly don't mean to ignore any applications, and if you didn't hear back by the date stated on the app when you applied, I'm sorry about that and I would like to figure out what happened.